Title
Circling to Scientia: Reading Descartes in Light of the Debate Between Stoic Dogmatists and Academic Skeptics
Department/School
Philosophy
Date
2017
Document Type
Article
Keywords
Descartes, scientia, Cartesian circle, academic skepticism
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/hph.2017.0002
Abstract
I argue that situating Descartes’s epistemology in relation to the debate between Stoic dogmatists and Academic skeptics sheds light on his theological argument for the reliability of clear and distinct perception in the Meditations. In particular, it allows us to understand how the argument might lead to a sort of certainty in its conclusion that is properly epistemic and not merely psychological, and it enables us to see how reasoning though the argument is supposed to make scientia possible.
Volume
55
Issue
1
Published in
Journal of the History of Philosophy
Citation/Other Information
Stuchlik, Joshua. “Circling to Scientia: Reading Descartes in Light of the Debate Between Stoic Dogmatists and Academic Skeptics.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 55, no. 1 (2017): 55-81. https://doi.org/10.1353/hph.2017.0002